Future remotely piloted aircraft, like the Air Force’s MQ-X concept, not only need to have jam-resistant signals, authentication, and inscription capabilities, they also must possess additional features to operate in contested airspace that today’s MQ-9 Reapers and MQ-1 Predators lack, said Col. James Gear, head of USAF’s RPA task force. “MQ-X is still a very important capability and it’s a requirement that continues to work,” said Gear Wednesday at the AUVSI symposium in Washington, D.C. MQ-X also needs to have robust and agile communications, be weather tolerant, and be modular and upgradeable, with mission sets for intelligence-reconnaissance-surveillance and strike, he said. (For more on MQ-X, see The RPA Boom from Air Force Magazine’s 2010 archives)
Air Force Searching for Savvier Sustainment
Oct. 20, 2020
The Department of the Air Force’s Advanced Manufacturing Olympics showcase kicked off this week with a look at where military sustainment has come so far and what more it has to accomplish. The event began over the summer, with multiple challenges where 64 teams can win up to $100,000 in…